Ikukunitama Shrine

OPEN HOURS

9:00 - 17:00 (Varies depending on the season.)

Engishiki-Myojintaisha that started when the gods Ikushima-no-kami and Tarushima-no-kami were enshrined in Ishiyamazaki (currently the area around Osaka Castle). The shrine burnt down in the 8th year of the Tensho Period (1580) during the Ishiyama battle, but when Hideyoshi Toyotomi built the Osaka Castle in the 11th year of the Tensho Period, it was moved to the current location. The main pavilion was built two years after relocation, in Ikutama-zukuri style, a style unprecedented in shrine construction, with the main and the adjacent pavilions under one nagarezukuri-style roof, and three gables of chidori-hafu (plover gable), sugari-kara-hafu (cusped gable), and another chidori-hafu. The current main pavilion was rebuilt after the war and now has concrete walls and sheet copper roofing, but still passes on ancient remnants of the Momoyama Period. The shrine is crowded on certain dates when ceremonies are held every year: on June 30th, the Oharae Ceremony is held to drive away bad luck and illnesses; on July 11th and 12th, the Ikutama Summer Festival; on August 11th and 12th, the Osaka Takigi Noh; and on the first Saturday of September and the day before that day, the Hikohachi Festival, which is held in relation to Hikohachi Yonezawa, the originator of kamikata rakugo. A three-minute walk from the Tanimachi 9-chome Station of the subway Tanimachi Line.